A Year's Perspective

I started this post a month ago, but have been so busy with life that I haven't got back to it. So here it is late but here.

A year ago we took Ella to Bi-Zi Farms and had a great time as new parents exposing her to all the Fall activities in our area. I knew when we went that it would really be for us since she was far too young to truly get what was going on around her. While we were there I thought how the next year would be very different and even more fun. It's the next year and it was so much more fun. Ella was able to engage with all the things they had set up for the kids. She climbed all over the hay bail pyramid, ran through the hay bail maze with Ben and me following, loved petting the animals, waved at the tractor pulled wagon every time she saw it, played with pumpkins, and toughly entertained Ben and me.

It was the perfect Fall day. There was no rain, which is rare here in our area, we had nothing planned, and we were all together. So we decided to head to farm. Below are pictures from our trip. For fun I have also included a few pictures from last year. You can see how much Ella has grown in a year.




Last year I had to hold her.



This year she could sit on her own.



She was so tiny.



No so much this year.



Ella loved the hay bail maze. She ran all over it. It was hard to keep up with her.








We found this great tractor three-wheeler. It was hard to get Ella off the tractor



Last year Ella didn't really notice the animals at the petting zoo. This year she loved the animals.



She is a country girl at heart.





Ella loved riding on the wagon out to the pumpkin patch. Daddy made a perfect seat.

I Can Do Anything You Can Do Better

You know that old song that goes "I can do anything you can do better?"


Well I should play that for Ella. She has become quite the little mimic these days. If she sees someone patting their head, she pats her head. If you spin in a circle, she spins a circle. The other night she had her hands above her head making these weird movements. I wasn't sure what she was doing until I looked behind me at Ben and saw that he was putting on his tux jacket and was adjusting the collar. She was mimicking his movements just without the jacket.


She amazes me with how much she is growing and changing. The baby that she was a year ago is gone. She is absolutely a toddler now. She runs around the house trying to do every thing she can. I can't pull anything over her. I used to be able to be able to tuck my phone or the remote under a cushion and she would forget about it, but now she knows exactly what I am trying to do and will move the cushion to get the phone or remote.


She is far too smart for my own good.

It took longer then it should have...

Yesterday I was vacuuming the house and it took much longer then it normally does because of Ella. Not because she was being bad or into things she shouldn't be in but rather she was far too cute. Every time I looked at her she was doing one of the cutest things she could do. I would have to stop immediately, grab the camera and hope I could capture the cuteness. Some times I was successful and other times I was not.

Lately she has really been into books. She will carry books around the house "reading" them. I looked over while vacuuming and saw her sitting on her pillow reading her book. Way too cute.

It's a really good book!




She also found her rocking chair to be a good spot to read her book.

She tried to feed Hudson her cantaloupe she threw down during her lunch. He didn't eat them, but he did lick them and then she ate it. So I won't be winning mommy of the year for that one.

He wasn't very interested.

When he didn't want to eat the cantaloupe she played hide and seek behind the curtains. What can I say. She is cute.

Swim Lessons

We are taking swim lessons this Fall.

Very exciting.

We have been looking forward to them for weeks and today was the day we would start.

We got ready. Put on our suits, got our towels, looked up the combination for our lock and headed off to do some errands before the lesson. After our errands we went to the Firstenburg Center and checked in. We gathered with the other parents and kids and listened to our instructor go over the rules. Once the rules were over (and Ella was crying to get in the pool to play with the toys that were in the bin sitting on the edge of the pool and I was sweating profusely) it was finally time to get in the pool.

We were two seconds from getting in the pool when the tweets from the whistles started. Everyone had to get out of the pool! What happened? Well someone pooped in the pool. No I am not kidding. Two minutes into the swim lesson and there was a floater and that was the end of our lesson. The pool had to be cleared and we were not getting in for our lesson.

So we will try again on Thursday. Hopefully everyone will go to the bathroom before and we will have a lesson.

Just for fun I have included pictures of Ella in her swimsuit . So cute.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school and I am not there. It is strange to not be going to work today, tomorrow or any day this year. I am so happy to be staying home with Ella this year. I look forward to be able to have play dates, go to the library's reading hour, meet Ben for the random lunch in the park, and number of other things staying home allows me to do. But at the same time I will miss school.

I will miss the students, the routine, the events, my colleagues, teaching history, seeing students "get it", discussions about education, holidays in school, special breaks, and the list goes on.

I will not miss grading, getting up early, tests, complaints, fire drills, emails, state requirements, waiting for the buses, students misbehaving, or the like.

I am surprised by my lack of complete and utter joy over staying home. I am so happy to stay home with Ella, to have this time with her and to support Ben in his preparation for his Doctorate. But at the same time I will miss the classroom. I am going to cherish this season in life though. I will not wish one day away while I am home because I know that this season is short. Before I know it I will be back in the classroom and Ella will not be a little girl anymore. She already has grown so fast. She is no longer a baby. I have a toddler. So with that in mind I will embrace this season. I will soak it all up and treasure it.

A New Toy

The other night Ben and I were at a friend's house and Ella found a great new toy on which to play. I stopped by a yard sale yesterday and found a toy just like it for sale. I went home, got Ben, and we went back so Ben could work his bartering magic on seller. Ben worked out a good deal and Ella has a new fun toy to play on. Below is video of her on the toy.

Overnight she has mastered the ability to climb up the slide and go back down the slide seated. She could not do this without help yesterday. I guess she was working this out in her sleep last night. Maybe this is the reason she started waking up at 6:30 instead of 8:30. ;-)

Going down feet first is fun, but head first is even more fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is definitely a toy that Ella can not play with alone. She is fearless. This morning I left the room for a few minutes and when I returned I found her standing on top of the slide playing with the wheel. She has no fear and will climb anything and everything. She keeps me on my toes!

We're walking now!

She has been working towards this day for weeks. Today she took her first real steps. She would get on her rocking chair, step off, walk a few steps, and then fall down. The rocking chair she was getting her head start from is the same rocking chair I started walking from on my first birthday. I guess it is a good starting point for walking. She did this about five times in a row and then moved on to a standing up from a crawling position and then taking a few steps. It was very exciting. Soon she will be running around the house!

You can see some video of Ella walking below. It is a little long (I haven't learned how to edit the video yet), but worth watching. These were not her first steps but you can see how she did it.

So proud...

She was so proud of herself when I found her diaperless in her crib. I had put her down for a nap in just her diaper and when I went in to get her up she had no diaper. Apparently she has figured out how to get her diaper off. Once I saw that there was no mess in the crib I quickly got the camera to document this moment. From now on, she will only go down with pants over that diaper.

The evidence...

Summer 09 so far...

So far summer '09 has exceeded my expectations! We have traveled from the Oregon coast to the Tri-Cities and back again. We have swam, played, celebrated and entertained until we have exhausted ourselves. Currently we are taking a little break from all this excitement and spending some days at home resting and cleaning our neglected home. The great thing about summer '09 is that there is still a month left!

This summer is very different from last summer. Last summer we were awaiting Ella's arrival and then learning how to be new parents. While last summer was incredible and life changing, it was all new and not very relaxing. We did not know when Ella would arrive, what she would be like, what we would be like as parents, and so many other things. This summer we just get to enjoy our daughter. We get to experience all the wonders of summer with Ella this year. For that reason summer '09 has been incredible and exciting.

Here are some of the things we have been up to so far:

Swimming at Esther Short fountain

Ella loves all forms of water. I knew she would love swimming when during her baths she played, laughed, and splashed all the time. She loved the fountain. She just went into the fountain. It was as though we were not there to her! She just wanted get into the water.

The rocks were rough on the knees so she did a bear crawl in the fountain.

So much fun.

Ella loves water so much that she doesn't even care if it is in her face.

My water baby!

After playing in the fountain we relaxed in the park.


Swimming at Auntie Sarah's

One of our favorite pools is Auntie Sarah's pool. Since she lives less then a mile away we are often at Sarah's swimming. Especially on days when it is 107 degrees here in Vancouver. We have been experiencing record high temperatures here. Thankfully we an air conditioner and plenty of pools to swim in. Not everyone here has those luxuries here and there was a constant sound of whining through out the Portland/Vancouver area. :-) Thanks to Auntie Sarah for her pool.

Lewisville Park

We have discovered a new favorite place for the summer. Somehow we have never been to Lewisville or even known how great it is. The park is only 15 minutes from our house which we have lived in for 4.5 years and we have never been. It took our new friends the Parla',s who just moved here in January, to introduce us to the park.

We went for the first time in June with the two girls to ride our bikes. This was the maiden voyage of the bike trailer we got a yardsale last year. The girls had a great time riding in the trailer. Although Ella perfers to go on bike rides while being on daddy's back. Maybe next year she will like the trailer more.

They are so cute together. I love their helmets. Safety first!

Athony had the priviledge of taking the girls around.

We also found a slide to play on. The girls liked this.

During our ride we found a swimming beach to put our feet in and cool off. Too bad we didn't bring our suits so we could swim. Ben, Ella, and I have gone back many times since this trip to swim. Ella loves it. So do we.

Belknap Hot Springs

At the end of June we traveled to Belknap Hot Springs in central Oregon to go to a friends wedding. It was a great location where we were able to play, relax, and spend time with friend. We stayed at the resort and shared a suite with our friends the Chans. They have a daughter just under 4 months older then Ella. It was very interesting seeing the girls interact in our suite. There were tense moments over toys that weekend!

After a stop for dinner, Ella thought she should have a turn driving. She needs a little more practice. :-)

Is it safe that she has to stand on her tippie toes to drive?

We took Ella's new wagon on the trip. Ella and Zoe had a great time ride around the resort in the wagon.

The Hot Springs were a beautiful spot for a wedding. The river ran right through the place.

Ella was so cute in her wedding outfit. After the wedding we were able to hang out in the grass and play.

Love this face.

Winchester Bay

After leaving the wedding in Belknap we headed straight for Winchester Bay to meet up with my parents, aunt and uncle, and cousin and her daughter for a week at the coast. We had a great time exploring the coastal towns, looking in antique stores and book stores, playing on the beach, relaxing, biking, wagoning (for those of you who aren't familiar with wagoning it is riding around in a kids wagon. It is so much more fun to say wagoning rather then lets take a ride in the wagon), and many other camping activities.

On our first day camping we went to lunch at a car diner that had a real car for a booth. Well we had to sit in the car. Since the booth was a car a high chair would not work so Ella sat in a boaster chair between daddy and grandma Whitney. It was fun and a great memory.

Ella loved eating outside while camping. Every meal was so messy, especially since it was cold and she needed to eat with a coat on most time. It is a testiment to stain removers that her coats are stain free.

A Whitney family tradition is to bathe babies and small children in the sink of the RV. When I was a kid I remember bathing in the sink of our camper. I was looking forward to bathing Ella in the 5th wheel's sink. Ella was quiet amused by the bath. It was difficult to get a good picture of Ella during her bath because she was all over the place. Most baths included mopping up a gallon of water off the counter.

She will love this when she is 16!

Grandma Whitney had the perfect touch to get Ella to sleep in the 5th Wheel. She was good-she also rocked her dogs to sleep! Ella actually did well with sleeping on our trip. We were gone for a week and she was a trooper. The only problem was she would wake up really early some times.

The sandy beach was a hit with Ella. She liked it a lot. The challenge was keeping her from eating the sand. :-)

Camping at Cresap Bay

Last summer we did not get to camp at all. This summer we have had two camping trips already and the possibility of more. What a difference one year makes. Just five days after we got home from Winchester Bay we went camping at Cresap Bay with our church for the weekend. We had a lot of fun. There was a boat to go out on Lake Merwin, a beach to swim in and great people to hang out with.

The pack and play was very helpful when we were setting up camp. Ella hung out in it while we put things together.

Hudson even had fun camping. He would spend all day in the water; we would throw sticks for him.

While camping Ella had her first boat ride. I think she liked it. We had fun riding with her. The life jacket made her a little hard to hold though.

I am ready for an adventure mommy!

The wind in our hair.

The Pool

I have a love affair with with my parent's pool. I could spend the whole summer at my parents pool. When we were at Winchester Bay it was as cold as winter. The weather when we got home wasn't much better. We decided then to go to the pool in the Tri-Cities and not get out for 2 days. We got there on a Wednesday night and didn't get out of the pool until Friday afternoon. Ella loved the water. She is a water baby to be sure.

Grandma Whitney got Ella this floating toy for the pool. She cruised around the pool in it for hours.

We ate most meals by the pool. That was really good since I forgot her bibs at home. Meals were very messy. Good thing the pool was there to wash her off in.

Shaelee had fun playing with Ella in the pool. She was great. She swam with Ella the whole day she was at the house.

Hanging with Grandpa Whitney before bed at the pool.

Some times it was more fun to play out of pool then in the pool.

She is fearless. This can make a mommy nervous.


As you can see we have been busy. Now that it is August we will be slowing down some and staying home for awhile, at least until the end of August when we leave for Spokane!